The invention relates to the area of electrical plug-and-socket connectors to achieve an electrical connection between two electrical areas that are separated from one another by a separating wall. In particular, the invention concerns an electrical plug-and-socket connection part which comprises a contact element housing with electrical contact elements for making contact with contact elements that are contained in a second plug-and-socket connection part that cooperates with the first plug-and-socket connection part and which comprises a guide sleeve that is held by the contact element housing and that is designed for reaching through an assembly opening in a wall and that engages in the guide sleeve opening of the contact element housing and is locked in the guide sleeve opening by a locking bar member, with this plug-and-socket connection part being fastened to the wall after it is assembled.
Such electrical plug-and-socket connection parts are required, for example, when transmission control systems are used in motor vehicles. In such a case, the transmission wall is the separating wall between an electrical plate, which is located within the transmission housing and which has a plug part that has electrical plug contacts and a pin housing arranged on it to make electrical contact, and the connection side. To make contact with the electrical plug contacts of the plug part, there is a receptacle part which can be pushed onto the electrical plug contacts to make the desired electrical plug-and-socket connection with the female insert contacts contained in the receptacle part. The receptacle part is arranged on one end of a cable harness whose other end is connected to the inputs and outputs of control electronics for monitoring and control of the electronics contained in the transmission housing.
Such a plug-and-socket connector is known from German utility model 297 21 908.1. In the electrical plug-and-socket connector described in this document, one plug-and-socket connection partxe2x80x94the plug partxe2x80x94is part of the electrical plate, from which the electrical plug contacts project toward the transmission wall. The plug contact arrangement is bordered by a fin-like holder edge. This holder edge forms both a holder for the front section of the receptacle part and one to hold a guide sleeve. The guide sleeve is arranged projecting from this holder upward through the transmission wall, and on the inside it borders the holder edge. The guide sleeve is connected with the holder edge by a clip bracket that is elastic in the radial direction and that acts like a locking bar. However, the guide sleeve is arranged in the guide sleeve opening so that it is not free of play in the axial direction. A section of the guide sleeve which has locking grooves on the outside projects out of the transmission wall on the side opposite the electrical plate. The locking grooves serve to lock a bayonet ring assigned to the receptacle part to secure the electrical plug-and-socket connection that has been made.
The bayonet ring has, on its plug-in side end, a support flange which is supported on the outer surface of the housing wall. The bayonet lock is designed in such a way that when the bayonet ring is set on it, that is when it is twisted to lock it, the guide sleeve is pulled out of the transmission wall to a certain extent. The transmission wall has elements arranged on it which act similar to grooved drive studs and which point toward the electrical plate and which engage into corresponding centering and attachment sleeves assigned to the electrical plate. When the bayonet ring is locked to the guide sleeve and when, as a result, the guide sleeve is pulled out, that is the electrical plate is pulled closer to the transmission wall, the elements acting similar to grooved drive studs are pressed into the centering and attachment sleeves that are assigned to them. After the bayonet ring is put on, the plug-and-socket connection part is attached to the transmission wall by the electrical plate associated with it.
To ensure that such a transmission operates perfectly for many years, it is necessary to arrange the electrical plug-and-socket connection part on the transmission wall so that it is free of play. If it is not attached so that it is free of play, transmission vibrations can damage the elements that can move against one another. Even if, with the previously known plug-and-socket connector, the electrical plate or the electrical plug-and-socket connector can be attached to the transmission wall so that it is free of play, the reliability of the attachment when there are transmission vibrations depends decisively on the quality of the frictional engagement between the lateral surface of the elements acting similar to grooved drive studs and the cylindrical inside surfaces of the centering and attachment sleeves. To produce a connection that withstands high extraction forces, it is necessary for the elements acting similar to grooved drive studs and the centering and attachment sleeves to be dimensioned in such a way, since the first have to be pressed with great force into the latter. As the number of attachment points used increasesxe2x80x94normally there are about threexe2x80x94the force necessary to produce the connection also increases. Then manual assembly is not always possible. In addition, manufacturing tolerances in the arrangement of the centering and attachment sleeves and the elements acting similar to grooved drive studs can mean that the electrical plate is under undesired tension after the transmission wall is put on.
Therefore, starting from this prior art that has been discussed, the invention is based on the task of proposing an electrical plug-and-socket connection part of the type mentioned at the beginning which not only makes it possible for the individual elements to be fastened to one another so that they are free of play in the decisive direction, but which also simplifies its assembly.
This task is solved according to the invention by the fact that the guide sleeve is arranged so that it is supported in the axial direction in the guide sleeve opening of the contact element housing and has, at a distance from this support arrangement, a locking stop which acts against the direction of action of the support arrangement and which has lying against it a locking bar member that is elastic in the axial direction of the guide sleeve and that is supported on a stop of the contact element housing serving as a buttress to prestress the support arrangement of the guide sleeve, that the plug-and-socket connection part has assigned to it a carrier that is fixed to the wall and that is arranged so that it is supported on the contact element housing in the direction of action of the support arrangement between the guide sleeve and the contact element housing and has a locking stop which acts against the direction of action of this support arrangement and which has lying against it a locking bar member that is elastic in the axial direction of the guide sleeve and that is supported on a stop of the contact element housing acting as a buttress to prestress the support arrangement of the carrier, and that the locking bar members are held so that they can move in a guide as part of the contact element housing or the carrier.
In contrast to the previously known prior art, the guide sleeve is not only introduced into the opening assigned to the contact element housing, but rather is supported like a stop in the axial direction in the opening. At a distance to this support arrangement, the guide sleeve has a lock stop assigned to it, whose effective surface is arranged so that it points in the direction opposite the effective surface for implementing the support arrangement between the guide sleeve and the guide sleeve opening. The locking stop has the locking bar member lying against it, which is elastic in the axial direction. In order to apply a prestress to the guide sleeve in the direction of the support arrangement so that the guide sleeve is locked in the guide sleeve opening free of play, a stop assigned to the contact element housing acts as a buttress to the locking bar member. The locking bar member is held in a guide which is borne by the contact element and in which it can be put in its locking position, for example by sliding it. To fix the contact element housing to the wall, for example the inside of the transmission wall, which has an assembly opening arranged in it so that the guide sleeve can be passed through, the plug-and-socket connection part has a carrier assigned to it which is fastened to the wall, for example, by a threaded joint and which is connected so that it is free of play in the axial direction, in a manner corresponding to how the guide sleeve is connected with the contact element housing. After the two locking bar members are activated the guide sleeve is locked in the guide sleeve opening so that it is free of play in the axial direction, and the carrier is fixed to the contact element housing so that it is free of play in the axial direction.
With the plug-and-socket connection part according to the invention, the carrier is fixed with the contact element housing on the inside of a transmission housing, for example, before the guide sleeve is passed through the assembly opening from the other side and inserted into the guide sleeve opening of the contact element housing. If the front end section of the guide sleeve is inserted into the guide sleeve opening, the locking bar members can be activated to fix the individual elementsxe2x80x94guide sleeve, contact element housing, carrierxe2x80x94to one another so that they are free of play in the axial direction and are effectively locked, at least relative to the guide sleeve. The locking bars can be activated in a simple manner, for example by sliding in a forked locking bar member whose arms can slide tangential to the guide sleeve or to the carrier. It should be taken into consideration that the inserted locking bar members are held in a guide borne by the contact element housing, preferably in a captive manner. Before assembly, a single module is located inside the wall, so that no other additional elements have to be passed to the inside of the wall to bring about the locking.
The two locking bar members can be arranged at an axial distance from one another. However, an expedient embodiment provides that the two locking bar members form a physical unit and that the two arms form a forked locking bar member. To make the two locking bar arms elastic, they have a bulge and consist of an elastic material, for example, spring steel. In such an embodiment, the stops of the contact element housing serving as buttresses are located in one plane, just like the locking stop of the guide sleeve or that of the carrier. This makes it possible for the two inside sections of the locking bar arms to lock the guide sleeve with the contact element housing and for the two outer sections of the locking bar arms to lock the contact element housing with the carrier. In this embodiment there is a simultaneous locking of the guide sleeve with the contact element housing and of the contact element housing with the carrier.
The carrier can represent a surrounding housing for the contact element housing.
The guide of a locking bar member can have arranged in it means of blocking which engage to prevent activation of a locking bar member without the guide sleeve being inserted into the guide sleeve opening. The blocking action of the means of blocking is eliminated by inserting the guide sleeve in the proper way. If a locking bar member is made in the form of a leaf spring with an elastic bulge, the activation of the locking bar can be blocked by a stop peg, for example. In such an embodiment the guide sleeve has an unlocking member assigned to it, by which the locking bar member is raised against its material elasticity so that it can be freely activated, so that the blocking action of the peg is eliminated.